Chamber and committees

If tenants vote yes in the Glasgow housing stock transfer ballot, in addition to the Glasgow City Council staff transferring to the Glasgow Housing Association under Transfer Undertaking Protection of Employment regulations, it is estimated that 3,100 new construction jobs will be created over the investment period as well as enhanced apprenticeship opportunities.

We believe there is great potential to develop the Clyde. We are working in partnership with key public and private stakeholders to consider in depth projects for economic growth. On Monday, Ms Wendy Alexander set out a blueprint for the long-term future of shipbuilding on the Clyde. This future will be secured by specialising in the high technology and quality end of the market.

The numbers of patients removed from lists by Island NHS Boards or Primary Care Trusts at the request of GPs each year, excluding those removed as a result of death, emigration or change of address, have been collected centrally since 1996. Except where a GP wishes removal to take immediate effect because of violence or the threat of it, GPs are not required by their Terms of Service to describe the cause of removal requests and no information on reasons is available. The numbers removed are as follows:

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Total removals excluding deaths, emigration and change of address	6,295	5,824	6,643	5,845	4,043	3,992
Removals in cases of violence	110	97	125	197	109	96

The Minister for Finance and Public Services and I have reviewed the Local Outcome Agreements (LOAs) submitted by the 12 local authorities selected to benefit from the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF).Uppermost in our minds was the Executive's commitment to improving the delivery of public services to the people of Scotland. We were also guided by the principles underpinning the BNSF: the need for local authorities to deliver clear and demonstrable outcomes for people in deprived neighbourhoods or deprived social groups and the need to involve these people in defining and monitoring these outcomes. The following LOAs have been approved and first year funding confirmed:

	(£ million)
Glasgow	6
West Dunbartonshire	2
Dundee	2
East Ayrshire	1.5
North Lanarkshire	1.5
Renfrewshire	1
South Lanarkshire	1

Glasgow City Council's LOA covered plans for use of the BNSF for the first year of the Fund only. A further LOA covering the second and third years is required to be submitted and approved by 1 July 2002.Two local authorities submitted LOAs which fell short of fully meeting the requirements of the fund - Inverclyde and Dumfries and Galloway - but, after consideration, we agreed to provide first year funding (£2 million and £0.6 million respectively), on condition that revised LOAs were approved by 1 April 2002.We were unable to confirm the allocations for North Ayrshire (£1.5 million), Argyll and Bute (£0.6 million), and Eilean Siar (£0.3 million), because the LOAs they submitted do not yet meet the requirements of the fund. However, the door remains open to these authorities; we will be prepared to provide funding from next year, if satisfactory LOAs are produced and approved by 1 July 2002. Confirmation of funding to all 12 local authorities for the further two years of the fund will be dependent on satisfactory progress being made against the outcome targets for each pathfinder.

The Social Justice Annual Report 2001 will be published on Monday 26 November 2001. Copies of the full report and the accompanying technical volume are available from the Parliament's Reference Centre and on the Scottish Executive's website www.scotland.gov.uk.

The report, funded by the Scottish Executive, and undertaken by the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at the University of Glasgow in conjunction with the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, is being published today. Copies of the report have been made available to the Parliament's Reference Centre and a copy can be found on the national drugs website at http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/prevalence.htm.

The Executive is making good progress in implementing the Scottish Strategy for Victims and the Action Plans which support it. We are improving the support and information available to victims and will be providing them with more opportunities to participate. For example, yesterday we announced the launch of a consultation paper on the procedures for a victims' statements scheme. Such a scheme would provide victims with the chance to set out the impact which a crime has had an on them and would be an important step in providing victims with more opportunities to participate in the criminal justice process.

The table details what we expect to spend on Social Justice commitments over the coming three years. The figures have yet to be finalised and take account of amounts carried forward from last year to 2001-02 and in future years. They are dependent on final decision on end year flexibility and are therefore subject to further change. The Executive budget proposals for 2002-03 and 2003-04 will be published formally for consultation in September, and revisions to this year's budget will also be put to the Parliament in the autumn.

	Cash Terms			Real Terms2
	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
	£ million
Housing Support Grant	10.0	10.0	10.0	9.8	9.5	9.3
Housing Revenue Account	180.0	180.0	180.0	175.6	171.3	167.1
Community Ownership1	150.0	140.0	129.0	146.3	133.3	119.8
Scottish Homes & Housing Other	294.6	300.5	333.9	287.4	286.0	310.1
Fuel Poverty	33.5	37.5	47.5	32.7	35.7	44.1
Homelessness	6.5	26.0	32.0	6.3	24.7	29.7
Social Inclusion	91.7	94.3	108.6	89.5	89.8	100.8
Vol Sector & Equalities	10.0	10.7	11.3	9.8	10.2	10.5
TOTAL	776.3	799.0	852.3	757.4	760.5	791.4

Notes:

1: The Community Ownership line includes £11 million in 2001-02 and £33 million 2002-03 of NHS Cash Balances to be used for the repayment of debt principal.

2: Real terms figures based on 2000-01 prices.

The key changes relate to the housing programmes. These have been revised in light of better information on the timing of spend and the amount required to meet our targets and in considering how best to use resources from slippage from last year. In doing so we have identified savings of £35 million from the overall housing budget, which we have redirected at other Executive priorities. These changes will still allow us to meet all our existing commitments and targets and address additional housing budget pressures.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13043 on 5 February 2001, which contains detailed information on the distribution of the additional £100 million drugs expenditure package. Distribution arrangements detailing the weighting given to deprivation and population factors where appropriate, are set out in the resource information and guidance pack issued to Drug Action Teams which is available from the Parliament Reference Centre and the Drug Misuse in Scotland website. It was not practicable to give special weighting to the number of drug related deaths in the national distribution arrangements. It is anticipated, however, that the wide-ranging package of measures announced will impact significantly on the drug misuse problem, and help achieve the Executive's published target of reducing the number of drug related deaths by at least 25% by 2005.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13043 on 5 February 2001, which sets out the distribution arrangements for the new £100 million drugs money. Details of the distribution to local authorities, along with accountability mechanisms, are set out in a package of information and guidance which was issued to all Drug Action Teams shortly following the distribution announcement. This information is available from the Parliament's Reference Centre and on the Drug Misuse in Scotland website.